Should I or shouldn't I ,,,,,,,,,,,

On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 19:03:17 -0500, Matt Colie
wrote:

>derbrym,
///
>The word rebuild is old navy. It seems that, in days of yore, a navy
>was allowed just so many ships. When one good too rough to maintain,
>they would "rebuild" it. This was a job where they would take the ship
>into a drydock two ships long and then strip all the guns, rigging and
>fittings of the old hull build a new hull infront of it. Since they
>would pull the inner keel, lower fretlocks and floors out of the
>original hull, that would pretty much lock them into the same ship they
>just brought in. By the time the rebuild was done, there was no
>original hull left, but there was a new Constitution ready for sea.

////
>Matt Colie

Like the axe once owned by Washington: its been rehandled five times
and had three new heads?

Brian Whatcott Altus OK
 >> Stay informed about: Should I or shouldn't I ,,,,,,,,,,, 

Matt Colie wrote:
> The Constellation was first built in 1797 as one of the American super
> frigates. This was the catagory that would soon include the
> Constitution. In 1855, she was rebuilt and came back out as a smaller
> and lighter corvette.

Actually, that's not true. The USS Constellation frigate was
decommissioned & broken up in a differnt place, several
years before the USS Constellation that currently exists in
Baltimore was laid down. The U.S. Navy never considered them
the same ship at all, and the later ship is quite a bit
bigger than the original and carried a different rate.

It appears this bit of misdirection, that the Constellation
frigate was "rebuilt" into the Constellation sloop-of-war,
was originated by the owners of the Constellation tourist
concession. Not sure if it was to try and excite more public
interest, or to try to get gov't money. They even rebuilt
parts of the ship to try and make it look more like the
Continental frigate. Many considered this a vandalization at
the time, including Howard I. Chappelle.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King
 >> Stay informed about: Should I or shouldn't I ,,,,,,,,,,, 

Jasper, you have asked a very open-ended question, kind of like "I see
an old house, should I restore it, and how much will it cost?" You
won't know any answers unless you a) have a survey done of the boat or
b) know enough to do it yourself.

That being said, lots of people with more time and money than brains, I
mean, with lots of ambition, have taken on seemingly hopeless projects
and with persistence and cleverness have wound up with fine vessels,
all the better for having restored the boats themselves. I say, go for
it!

As for the USS Constitution, if I recall correctly there is but one
piece of original wood in her, and it isn't structural.
 >> Stay informed about: Should I or shouldn't I ,,,,,,,,,,,